


Denouement

by femvimes



Category: Knives Out (2019)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21708967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femvimes/pseuds/femvimes
Summary: Or, why Marta was wearing that blanket at the end of the movie.
Comments: 27
Kudos: 554





	Denouement

After they pulled Ransom off her, Marta lay there on the ground, simply trying to breathe. She listened to them wrestle Ransom, click the handcuffs on, and read him his rights. All the while she sucked in her breaths. Adrenaline pumped through her. She could run a marathon. She could…she could…she could lay here, on this carpet, forever. She almost had.

Eventually Det. Blanc came over to check on her. He was the only one who thought to. From the sounds of it, or what could be heard through the rushing blood in her ears, the others had taken Ransom out. She and the detective were alone.

It was funny—for all that she’d been trying to deceive him the past two days, she genuinely liked the man. He reminded her of a detective from one of Harlan’s early books. Charming and utterly sexless.

She hadn’t killed her friend. Ransom had tried to, and then tried to kill her. Relief warred for terror and nausea. Was that why she was shaking so badly? Rarely did Marta get the chance to recognize shock in herself.

Det. Blanc was saying her name. How long had he been doing that?

“Are you all right? Miss Cabrera? Marta—”

Marta blindly reached out. He grasped her trembling hand and helped her sit up. When she looked into his face, she could hardly see his concern through the tears in her eyes.

“Goodness, my dear girl, you’re shaking like a leaf. Here…”

He got up from where he’d been kneeling at her side and disappeared from her field of vision. Then a heavy comforter, from the divan in the corner, settled around her shoulders.

“There,” said the detective, reappearing in front of her. He handed her a handkerchief. A handkerchief, of all things. Marta blew her nose.

“You didn’t think maybe holding the parlor room scene in front of the knife wall was a bad idea?” she choked out.

Det. Blanc sighed and sat down on the carpet next to her.

“Miss Cabrera, I am so sorry. If I had any idea of how violent Mr. Drysdale was going to be, I would never have put you through all this.”

“I didn’t think – I mean, he seemed so – he tried to _stab_ me.” She still couldn’t get over that fact. Who got stabbed these days?

This whole ordeal, from the night of the party to now, had been like one of Harlan’s books. One of the sad ones she’d never liked very much. And that was because he’d orchestrated it, in part. The arrogance, to put her in one of his books, to treat her life like a plot. Why did she miss him so much?

She hadn’t killed her friend.

“If Harlan had just waited,” she began, then broke into fresh tears. Det. Blanc clicked his tongue and scooted closer to pull her into an awkward one-armed hug.

“I know,” he said. “Shh, shh. I know.”

“He always was dramatic,” she said, gulping in air. “I think…” She smiled at the detective. “I think he would have liked you.”

“That’s very kind of you to say,” he said. “I’d have liked to meet the man myself.”

He got to his feet, with some cracking of his knees, and stood over her.

“Now, point me in the direction of the nearest kitchen. I’m sure there’s more than one in this McMansion. You need sweet tea, just like my old mother makes.”

"Let me show you,” Marta said. He pulled her to her feet. Clutching the blanket around her, she shuffled forward. She was alive, and she hadn’t killed her friend. Everything else would come one step at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for an avuncular detective figure. Benoit Blanc is an Hercule Poirot for our times! His friendship with Marta was very sweet, and I thought the movie needed one more scene of him comforting her.


End file.
